The Roma population in Northeastern Hungary – spatial characteristics by recent data

Abstract

The estimated number of the Roma can vary significantly depending on the ethnic classification approach. Data based on auto-identification typically show lower, while heteroidentification (i.e. external classification) tends to produce higher values. In the current study, the first approach is demonstrated by population censuses, and the latter approach is illustrated by local governmental estimations collected – partly – by the authors. Various data sources suggest that the number and ratio of Roma have grown dynamically in recent decades in Hungary. The census in 2022 caused a break in this, which indicated a significant decrease in the number of people who assumed their identity as Roma.

Approximately one half the Hungarian Roma live in Northeastern Hungary. This study aims to detect differences between data from the census and local government estimates, as well as the territorial patterns of the emerging changes. The background of the municipal estimates is provided by a recently completed database containing data from 999 settlements in the examined area. This dataset suggests that the proportion of the Roma population in Northeast Hungary increased by about one and a half percentage points to 17.3%, while it decreased by two percentage points to 4.6% based on the census data. The extent of the difference between the two approaches was basically expected, but the altering trend was hardly predictable. According to the censuses, the number of settlements with at least 50% Roma population has decreased to 14 by 2022, while based on local government estimates, their number has doubled, approaching the number of 140 settlements. Settlements with high ratio of Roma people are located in the border zone of Northeastern Hungary and in the so-called inner periphery at the Middle Tisza area. These areas are called as external and internal peripheries characterised by long-term backwardness.

Defining backwards settlements, this study relied on government decrees adopted between 1991 and 2015, in which unfavourable settlements were identified according to their low level of social, economic and infrastructural characteristics. On the basis of this categorisation the longterm changes in the ratio of Roma population were calculated in order to detect the distribution of Roma within the groups of settlements.